If every contemporary art center in the United States had its own flavor, I think Dallas must be smoke. It’s in barbecue and mezcal, and many of the collectors who flock to town like to blow it.

In Dallas, wealth is on the sleeve, making the Dallas Art Fair VIP opening a fascinating spectacle beyond the art on the walls.

I met the artistic adviser Sarah Calodney – over a cigarette – in front of the Joule hotel. We had just returned from a luncheon hosted by the Crystal Bridges Museum, about 350 miles north of Dallas, Arkansas. There, Annemarie Dillard, heiress to the Dillard department store fortune and museum trustee, stood before a well-heeled group of collectors, advisers and artists, including Christen Wilson, Jessica Nowitzki, Jammie Holmes, Janelle Pinnell and Rob Teeters. , and told the public about the museum’s upcoming gala.

“You’ll never believe how many celebrities have been to Bentonville!” she stated.

As Calodney and I got into an Uber, she explained that about half of her clientele were collectors from Dallas. (She also runs Lehmann Maupin’s collaborative space with Carpenter’s Workshop in Aspen, which makes her one of many part-time Texas residents who take advantage of the state’s lack of income taxes. .) She said she enjoys working with collectors who live here. “Here, collectors are generous and enthusiastic. Nobody’s jaded like, ‘bleh I have to be at that gala.’ The people of Dallas are excited.

Along the way, Calodney told me about some of the pieces she currently has on hold for fair patrons – at the Night Gallery, Perrotin and the local Erin Cluley Galllery. She has been coming to the fair for 15 years and is regularly amazed by the treasures that abound. “Like four years ago, you could get a Matthew Wong for $20,000. It’s badass; there are so many good things here.

Rolling up to the Fashion Industry Gallery, the 74,000 square foot exhibition space that houses the Dallas Art Fair, that excitement for discovery was palpable. Cowboy-booted, rhinestone-studded collectors — or were they all real diamonds? – gathered just inside the door.

We caught up with Carolina Alvarez Mathies, director of the Dallas Contemporary, among the hubbub, who was bright-eyed and eager to take a peek. Our first stop was Lyles and King’s stall, where a painting by Paola Angelini, inspired by medieval French tapestry, caught Calodney’s eye.

“It looks very Chagall, I love it!” she says. The artwork was on sale for $16,000 and Calodney left his email. Next door, at Erin Cluley, the Dallas Art Museum had already taken a work by Riley Holloway for $9,500; another, for $6,000, was beginning to pique Calodney’s attention when a loud noise distracted us.

“Stop!“Yells a security guard. Running straight towards me with a wild look in his eyes and a weird smile on his face was a man wearing a cowboy hat and soiled shorts. About five feet from me, the guard tackled him and the whole floor seemed to go silent. I would learn later that it was not someone who had burst into the vernissage, but in fact a collector who had taken advantage of the bar a little too much. “There’s always someone who doesn’t look good with a cowboy hat in Dallas,” Alvarez Mathies said. From.

Next stop was The Hole, where director Ray Bulman showed us a marble sculpture by Adam Parker Smith, for which the dealer had to travel three times to a quarry in Italy to source the material. While this fascinated me, Calodney’s eyes were on a vibrant still life of Pedro Pedro, where cigarettes and pill bottles were hidden among luscious fruit.

“I like painting that references other paintings. What a great take on still life,” Calodney said of the piece. “There’s a long waiting list for this one. It costs $40,000,” Bulman said. Calodney whispered his client’s name in his ear. “Oh, I would prioritize him for sure,” he said.

All around us, more sales were buzzing. Fabienne Levy sold three paintings by Ben Arpea in the range of 7,000 to 14,000 dollars. Carl Kostyál’s larger-than-life stand of Mike Shultis’ mixed media paintings of buffaloes and horses is nearly sold out.

Shultis’ works were far from the only cowboy-themed art at the fair. I counted 12 paintings with cowboys, 19 paintings with horses and a donkey. The spirit of Texas was certainly reflected in the art brought to the fair.

Calodney realized she had left her cell phone in the Uber and had to go get it before throwing a party at collector Janelle Pinnell’s house later. She was quite happy to have lost him: “That way I can keep things on hold longer!”

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